Bihar has produced a number of poet writers and scholars

 Bihar has produced a number of poet, writers and scholars, including Tahir Gayavi the great islamic scholar Azhar Sabri urdu poet from belwar Gaya, Nikita singh great author  the great writer and Buddhist scholar Hrishikesh Sulabh are the prominent writers of the new generation. The later is a short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors. Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay is among the greatest writers in Bangla, resided for some time in Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee also hails from Patna in Bihar. Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the most renowned poet of Maithili.  Interestingly, the first Indian author in English was a Bihari, Deen Mohammad. Among the contemporary writers in English Amitava Kumar, Tabish Khair and Sidhharth Chaoudhary are important names. Sidhharth Chaoudhary has been shortlisted for 2009 Man Asia Literary prize for his book Day Scholar. Bihar has a rich heritage of reading and writing habits. Because of this, there is a great desire and hunger for books among the general public. It is said that people here can forgo food for a day but not their daily dose of book reading. A fact brought out by the numerous personal libraries and the huge number of great writers, authors, poets and students. In fact wherever one goes in this world, one would certainly find students from Bihar out there. Be it Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge or IIM Ahmedabad.